The Chicago Bulls' longest road trip of the season is starting at a
bad time considering their recent struggles, but they're at least
kicking it off with a favorable matchup.
The Los Angeles Lakers could establish a season-worst losing streak
Thursday night with the Bulls beginning a seven-game trip seeking a
seventh win in the last nine meetings.
Since a season-best six-game winning streak, Chicago (25-19) has
gone 3-7 with some awful offensive efforts creeping in. Among them
was Monday's 89-84 home loss to Miami with the Bulls shooting 39.8
percent. Dating to an 83-77 home loss to Dallas on Jan. 15, they
have been limited to 25.0 percent from 3-point range.
Pau Gasol led the Bulls with 19 points and 17 rebounds Monday and
shot 9 for 18, but the rest of the starting five was 11 of 35 as
inconsistency becomes the norm. Gasol has averaged 20.7 points and
12.7 rebounds in three straight double-doubles, but that followed
an 0-for-8 performance in last Wednesday's loss to Golden State.
"It's repetitive," Gasol told the team's official website. "It's
definitely a pattern. It's happened all season long and continues
to happen. Right now that's just who we are, capable of great games
and capable of not being able to sustain those.
"We do have a lot of injuries, key players, veteran players who
could help us out, who know how to navigate and deal with the
situations. But it is what it is. We have a tough road trip coming
up. Let's see if we can actually get some continuity and some good
games together."
Derrick Rose missed the second half against the Heat because of
lower back and right hamstring injuries, and the Bulls were already
playing without backup guards Kirk Hinrich (bruised quadriceps) and
E'Twaun Moore (hamstring strain). They're also dealing with
long-term injuries to Mike Dunleavy and Joakim Noah, and forward
Nikola Mirotic will be sidelined until after the All-Star break
after having his appendix removed Wednesday.
Rose is questionable against the Lakers (9-38), and the Bulls could
elect to rest him with the Clippers looming Sunday.
The Lakers won the last meeting, 123-118 in overtime at home last
Jan. 29 despite 35 points from Jimmy Butler, but that seems like
the kind of individual effort Los Angeles can't keep up with at the
moment.
During their second seven-game losing streak of the season, the
Lakers have been outscored by an average of 16.3 points with
opponents scoring 110.0 per game and shooting 48.8 percent.
However, Tuesday's 92-90 defeat to Dallas was a comparative
success, particularly on the defensive end after giving up at least
108 points in six straight games.
"I'm never happy about a loss, but I was extremely happy about our
effort and how hard we played," said coach Byron Scott, whose team
is also trying to avoid extending a season-worst home skid to five.
"I thought for the first time in a while, we really paid attention
to the little details that we've been talking about. We really
focused in on that end of the floor."
Julius Randle had 16 points and 11 rebounds, and the second-year
forward is averaging 13.0 and 11.3 in his last three games while
shooting 45.7 percent. The 21-year-old, limited to one game last
season because of a broken leg, entered that span averaging 6.8
points and shooting 31.8 percent in his previous 10 games.
"I put a lot of hours into it," Randle told the team's official
website. "Day and night - it's a lot of hours. It's coming around
slowly."
Kobe Bryant sat out the Dallas game with a sore a sore right
shoulder and hasn't faced the Bulls since 2012-13.
Tonight's game can be heard on Newstalk 1060 with the Pre-Game Show
at 9.
